The way you folks have been keeping the comments coming despite my inactivity (I'm still tied up on something and this will be a quick hit) has been superb and deserves many kudos. I'll have something up on the second-round playoff games, hopefully before they start, but if I don't, the bottom line is Bulls over Pistons, Spurs over Suns, Cavs over Nets and Jazz/Rockets over Warriors.
Some thoughts about last night...
The emergence of AK-47 and the ongoing disappearance of Yao makes the Houston-Utah Game 7 a real tossup despite the Rockets home court advantage. Folks who have read me for years know I've been a Yao disliker (you can't really hate on the big galoot) from the start, mostly because he's been so enthusiastically overrated. This year, Yao raised his game a notch and I began to buy into a piece of the hype. No more. When the largest player in the entire league can't keep 6-9 (at most) Carlos Boozer from scoring in the paint, that is a glaring deficiency. Yao is 9 inches taller than Boozer. If you're six feet, imagine defending against someone 5-3 in the paint. And the thing that supposedly represents Yao's upside--that he makes his teammates better--certainly hasn't shown itself in this series. It seems like T-Mac against the world out there, and while I give Chuck Hayes a pass as a glue guy who isn't supposed to step up, Shane Battier, Yao and Rafer Alston, plus Juwan Howard, have a lot of explaining to do if Houston blows this series.
On the other side, Sloan's troops have to be feeling pretty good about things. Their two underachievers, Mehmet and Kirilenko, both seem to have their groove back and Boozer is in another zone entirely (who matches up with him if the Jazz get to Golden State?). Deron Williams hasn't even had the kind of breakout series I thought would be an absolute necessity for Utah to have a chance and it is still 3-3. The blame for that falls to Yao and he's got one game to atone. Meanwhile, if the Rockets advance to GS, expect Houston to play 4 on 5 much of the time in transition.
On to Golden State dispatching the Mavs. I'd love to defend Dirk Nowitzki, if only in transferral for all the unfair things said about Garnett in previous playoffs, but the comparison is apples and oranges. Nowitzki did not help his team in any way shape or form last night: 8 points and 2 assists? As bad as the 2 makes look, the 13 attempts, especially alligned with the 2 dimes, shows that he simply was not a factor on the offensive end. And, ah, nobody on the Mavs was a factor on D.
How badly did the Mavs get whupped? Well, did you expect Golden State to own the boards, 52-38? How about a 67-win team facing elimination shooting 34 percent through the first three periods (the blown out 4th quarter, when they shot 8-16, doesn't count)? Baron Davis was huge, no denying that, but does this team win without Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes going off the way they did at least 2 or 3 times apiece in this series. And what about the job Biedrins did both cleaning the class and making himself available on cuts to the hoop?
I've said this before, but the biggest fallacy heading into this series, and the one we should have all realized more thoroughly, is that Dallas is not an up-and-down team. The fact that everybody said they were helped them believe it, and enabled Nelson and the Warriors to suck them into exactly the type of game that went against the strengths. They force-fed Golden State's confidence and the collective explosion that ensued was as glorious as it will be fleeting. Seriously, does everyone expect Baron Davis to keep this up versus either the Rockets or the Jazz? Are we going to keep watching Matt Barnes go 16-11-7 while playing tenacious defense? Is Stephen Jackson going to keep his shit together being guarded by Kirilenko or Battier? Golden State should be praying for a Houston win this weekend, because they match up with the Rockets a lot better than they do the Jazz. How long can this magic carpet ride last? Hopefully enough for another series as fun as this last one, although that is asking for too much.
Back to Nowitzki: Isn't it time to start naming the MVP after the playoffs are over? Seriously, who doesn't realize that that how a player performs in the post-season is the biggest factor in determining their value? How silly is it to deny that variable in the voting? Sure, it will penalize fabulous players on non-playoff teams and provide enormous weight to playoff performance. Anyone have a problem with that?
It isn't just Nowitzki who should be keeping his shades drawn for the next six months or so. Jason Terry was shown to be a second-rate third banana this series, and deserves a hefty fine for pile-driving Baron Davis in front of the Warriors bench in Game 5--tell me Stephen Jackson isn't suspended for a month is he does the same thing. Devon Harris was the classic guy unsuccessfully trying to be a leader. Avery Johnson was outcoached the entire series. And Mark Cuban should have paid Don Nelson the 6 million dollars he owed him.
As elated as I felt for Golden State to win, I also felt bad for Tracy McGrady. His career is a lot like KG's in the unable to win in the playoffs category. I think he handled the post-game press conference wth a lot of class.
But c'est la vie, and now its the Jazz versus Golden State, with two master coaches going at it. I think the determining factor will be the extent to Baron's injury. He simply willed out an incredible performance against Dallas on a bad hammie, but he won't be able to keep that up for an entire series against Utah unless he's made a miraculous recovery. Utah is a better matchup for Golden State than Dallas was. I don't see the Warriors able to stop Boozer. This guy has become one of the better interior bangers in the game. I think Utah wins this in 6.
Jed--
Who was a more valuable player to his team from the very start to the very end of the 2005-06 season, Steve Nash or Dwyane Wade? Is it really fair that hoop fans twenty or thirty years from now will look back on that season and determine that Nash was deemed more valuable to his team than anyone else, when anyone who experienced the season knows that Wade was the player of the year in 05-06?
This does not mean that the finals MVP will automatically become the overall MVP, however. Let's say that Baron Davis improbably continues his magical run for another three series and Golden State takes the crown; does really make him more valuable, from start to finish, than Nash was to Phoenix this year?
All I'm asking is that the most important time to determine a player's value to his team be considered when judging the Most Valuable Player award. Although most players with their heads on straight would prefer to be named Finals MVP over regular MVP under the current system, it has nowhere near the same cache to fans and hoop historians.
I don't agree with Britt's quick takes on the series, but part of that is hoping for a Suns/Warriors matchup. The part that's not irrational is the Bulls/Pistons series.
I know I'll be accused of being a Flip apologist (and a long time Piston's fan to boot), but I think they beat the bulls. Against an aging team, and with a Shaq killer in Ben Wallace, the Bulls made the Heat look old and slow. A one armed Wade and Jason Williams with Gary Payton off the bench does not prepare you to play Billups and Hamilton. And Sheed and Webber won't let Big Ben camp in the lane. They can make 18 footers all day long. Sad for one of my favorite players, but Ben is much like KG. A couple years ago he could cover the distance from the lane to the jump shooter just a hair quicker than he can now, and that's all it takes.
The fact is, it would have been Detroit watching Dirk collapse '06 if Wade hadn't played out of his gourd vs. the Pistons last year, and I don't see a host of weaknesses coming up with the Pistons. In fact, Flip has a pretty nice hand at designing offenses with a swiss army knife of a big man. I see the Pistons as better this year.
The Pistons match up well vs. the Bulls from top to bottom, and while there's little Chicago can do to really mess with Detroit, the jump shooting big men are going to take the bulls out of their comfort zone.
Pistons in 6.
They should at least announce the regular season MVP before the playoffs start. It wouldn't be that difficult.
In terms of making the MVP voting reflect postseason success, don't you think this would lead to unwanted overlap with the Finals MVP award? Given that A) It seems like your team has to win for you to have a shot at being the MVP, and B) There's only team that hasn't stopped winning by the end of the playoffs, there's not a heck of a lot of room for guys other than the finals MVP to take the trophy.
Have to agree with College Wolf - last nights GS DAL game was awesome. I don't have anything against the Mavs, but I started rooting for GS after they won Game 1. I gotta root for the underdog.
As for Nowitzki - I felt kind of bad for him after the first couple of games. All the bitching, complaining and blaming that was landing in his lap I felt was unwarranted and unfair. At the time, my thoughts were this - Even kazillion dollar athletes are going to have "left-footed" days where nothing is going to go right. We are all human and we all have them. But to have left-footed days for damn near the entire series is unexplainable and unacceptable. He was way too out of it for far too long and I think that he was literally shell-shocked by the Warriors. At his skill level and level of experience there is simply no excuse for this.
I also wanted to comment on Avery Johnson's post game press conference. I think he is a total class act. Many other coaches and players in that type of situation would not be nearly so gracious and complimentary about the opposing team. How many times have coaches/players refused to give credit for the win to the winning team. Instead they often choose to say that they themselves lost the game (vs. the other team winning the game.) My kudos to Avery!
I also agree totally with Britt about the Baron Davis pile drive. How can they eject Stephen Jackson with one T for clapping and not immediately eject a player for slamming another player to the floor. It defies explanantion!
WOW what a great GS DAL game last night. GS is simply unbelievable. I enjoyed it immensely.
Does anyone still think I'm crazy for having wanted/wanting Baron Davis? That man has the heart of a lion.
I must say I disagree with the assessment of the second round Jazz/Rockets vs Gloden State series. I think Utah will be much more prone to falling into the Warriors style of play whereas the Rockets have a coach who simply won't let that happen. Sure, the Warriors will be 5 v 4 in transition, but Jeff Van Gundy is too good of a coach to let Golden State play the way they want. I think the Jazz have a tougher matchup against the Warriors than the Rockets. Houston will slow games down, and ultimately the pace of the game will effect the collective synergy the Warriors have going right now. Their series against Dallas was magical, and their record with their full compliment of players (post-trade, everyone healthy) should scare any team in the conference, but I just have a feeling Van Gundy will win this series for the Rockets, if they get past the Jazz.